Clothes drying frame



y 9, 1939. H. H. FRENCH 2,157,822-

I CLOTHES DRYING FRAME Filed Aug. 17, 1938 INVENTOR ATTORNEY PatentedMay 9, 1939 'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CLOTHES DRYING FRAME HarrietHolder French, Newport, It. I. Application August 17, 1938. Serial No.225,258

6 Claims.

In the manufacture of frames on which garments are hung or stretched, itis desirable to have the frame made so that it can be folded up when notin use. The problem of providing a folding frame is particularlytroublesome when the frame consists of wire strands bent to the shape ofthe garment. The principal difllculty is that the hinges about which themembers of the frame turn generally do not readily permit all parts ofthe frame to lie compactly in the same plane when folded up.

If we are to have parts of a wire frame arranged so that one part willfold up and lie in the same plane as the other part, one of the partsmust be smaller than the other so that it, can fit into the larger partwhen folded up.

I have discovered that by using a hinge conslsting of a metal sheetpressed and bent around the wire strands of the frame members to holdthem together and by having the smaller part of the frame structure heldstationary in the hinge and the larger part of the frame structure heldmovable in the hinge I can provide a clothes drying frame which willreadily fold up so that all parts lie substantially in the same plane.

One has merely to fold the smaller part of the frame into the largerpart. Because the smaller part of the framt is held stationary in thehinge, it revolves about the axis of the larger part and always forms asingle angle in conjunction with the larger part except that no angle isformed when the smaller part is folded up and lies in the plane of thelarger part.

I prefer to have the ends of the wire strands of the frame members cometogether within the hinge. By concealing the strand ends within thehinge the appearance of the frame is improved and rough edges on whichthe threads of garments may catch are eliminated.

Principally, however, I have the ends meet within the hinge so that thehinge can act to keep the wire strandslocked in proper position to formthe frame members. The smaller member is generally soldered to the hingeand the wire strands are therefore locked in position. The larger memberis held movable radially in the hinge but substantial frictionalresistance against axial movement enables the hinge to hold the wirestrands in proper position.

In the drawing I show a clothes drying frame in which the members of theframe are arranged to illustrate my invention.

Fig. 1 is a front view showing one arm of the a frame in both folded andunfolded position;

Fig. 2 is a top view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig.

Fig. 3 is a cross section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 to show thearrangement of the parts prior to folding;

Fig. 4 is a cross section showing the arrangement of the parts after thesmaller member has been folded up to lie within the larger member and inthe same plane with the larger member;

Figs. 5 and 6 correspond to Figs. 3 and 4 but show an arrangement inwhich one part of the smaller frame is squared off so that the hingeacts to hold the smaller member of the frame stationary in the hinge,and

Fig. 7 is a front view showing a clothes drying frame adapted to befolded into a plurality of parts.

In the drawing the smaller member of the frame structure is indicated bythe numeral Ill; and

the larger member by the numeral l2. The hinge A proper is formed byhaving a fiat strip of metal l4 bent and pressed around the larger andsmaller members so that it holds them together. The smaller memebr II]is held stationary in the strip l4, generally by solder; but Figs. 5 and6 a show the smaller member I0 held stationary in the strip [4 by havingthe strip pressed against a flattened portion l6 of the smaller elementIt.

In Fig. 7 a portion of the hinge is broken away to show the ends 20 ofthe wire strands l0 and I2 coming together within the hinge. Strand I0is soldered to the hinge; and strand I2 is held in the hinge againstaxial movement by frictional resistance between its surface and theinner surface of the hinge.

A hinge of this type is particularly useful in connection with theclothes drying frame shown in my copending application Ser. No. 204,805,filed April 28, 1938. In that structure the frame proper is covered witha layer of absorbent material. When the arms of that frame are foldedinwardly, the use of the hinge arrangement disclosed in this applicationpermits the frame to be folded up substantially flat despite thecovering of absorbent material on the frame.

I claim:

1. In a clothes drying frame having a plurality of frame membersconsisting essentially of wire strands, a strand of wire bent to form aframe member, another strand of wire bent to form a smaller frame memberadapted to fit into the larger member, a hinge comprising a metal sheetbent around portions of the wire strands of the aforesaid frame membersto hold them together, the smaller frame member being held stationary inthe hinge and the larger frame member being held movable in the hinge.

2. A structure as specified in claim 1 in which that portion of thesmaller frame member within the hinge is soldered to the inner side ofthe metal sheet comprising the hinge.

3. A structure as claimed in claim 1 in which a portion of the wirestrand of the smaller frame member is flattened so that the wire frameis held in the hinge against radial and axial movement.

4. In a clothes drying frame having a plurality of frame membersconsisting essentially of wire strands, a strand of wire bent to form aframe member, another strand of wire bent to form a smaller frame memberadapted to fit into the larger member, a hinge comprising a metal sheetbent around portions of the wire strands of the aforesaid frame membersto hold them together, the smaller member being held stationary in thehinge and the larger member being held movable angularly in the hingebut not subject to axial movement in the hinge.

5. A structure as claimed in claim 4 in which the two ends of the wirestrand of one of the frame members approximately come together withinthe hinge.

6. A structure as claimed in claim 4 in which the two ends of the wirestrands of the larger frame member approximately come together withinthe hinge at a point substantially in the center of the hinge so thatfrictional resistance against axial movement of the strands in the hingeis set up substantially equally toward both ends of the hinge.

HARRIET HOLDER FRENCH.

